Flexible bushing



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR RAGNAR WIKANDER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA., .ASSIGNOR, BYDIRECT A ND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO S K'F BALL BEARING COMPANY; OFHARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

FLEXIBLE BUSHING.

Ap'piieation inea may 1o, 191s.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, OSCAR RAGNAR WI- KANDER,citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, county ofAllegheny, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anY Improvement inFlexible Bushings, of which the following is a specification.

The invention refe-rs to bushings which transmit lateral forces from aninner core to an outer sleeve or cylinder or vice versa, and its obiectis to equalize the forces transmitted by several bushings and to preventshocks or pulsations of power from being transmitted through saidbushings.

4This new type of bushing is intended to take the place of rubberbushings for flexible couplings and similar applications in powertransmitting devices.

4Q.u f bearing against the surfaces 1 and 2. Fig.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 shows a sectional view illustratingthe use of a single corrugated annular spring between the two arts ofone element of a journal and bearing and in which all of the yieldingpoints in the circumference are staggered and Fig. 2 shows the same whenthe device is subjected to a lateral force. Fig. 3'shows a section of myimproved invention embodying a plurality of concentrioally arrangedcorrugated annular spring parts and an interposed spring tube toconstitute a co-mpound bushing element having a plurality of yieldingpoints in each ofa number of radial lines about the circumference, andFig. 4 is a similar section when the bushing is subjected to a lateralforce.

Referring to Figs. land 2, 1 is the inner surface of the sleeve orcylinder surrounding the flexible bushing. 2 is the inside core of saidbushing. 3 is a corrugated sheet spring tube, the crests of thecorrugations 2 shows the deflection of the bushing produced by a lateralforce acting in the direction of the arrow shown in 'the drawing. Inthis construction, the, core 2 and the sleeve or cylinder 1 mayberelatively movable in all directions; ordinarily, the sleeve would notrotate relatively to the core but would act as a bearing about which arotating part would be journaled and upon which it would revolve. Theobjection to a construction in which only a single corrugated flexibletube is employed between Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 233,695.

the .parts 1 and 2, resides in that all of the flexibility must'come onthe staggered points of contact with either the core 2 or the` sleeveI1, and whereconsiderable flexibility is required, t-he corrugated springsleeve is liable to crack.

The design shown in Figs. 1 and 2 does not permit of a very largeldeflection without danger of breakage and to avoid such danger 1t ispreferable to use my improved construction `shown in Figs. 3 and 4 whena considerable deflection is wanted.

vThe flexible bushing, of which Fig. 3 shows a vertical section acrossthe axis, consists of an outside corrugated sheet spring tube 4, anintermediate cylindrical sheet spring tube 5, and an inside corrugatedsheet spring tube 6, the corrugations of the tubes 4 and 6 being asnearly parallel as ypossible.

Fig. 4 shows the deflection of said bushing produced by a force actingin the` direction of the arrow shown in the drawing.

From the action indicated in Fig. 4, it will be seen that not only dothe corrugated annular spring parts 4 and 6 provide yieldingness in thesame radial lines, but the interposed cylindrical spring tubular part 5also provides yieldingness between its points of contact with the corruated annular parts 4 and 6, thereby p-roviding three times theflexibility of the structure of Figs. 1 and 2, and this advantage may bestill greater increased by the addition of another corrugated annularpart and another cylindrical part of similar character to those shown.

It is evident that anyV desired deflection can be obtained withoutexceeding the permissible stresses in the. material ifI a sufficientnumber of alternatingly cylindrical and corrugated tubes, such as shownin Figs. 3 and 4;V are used.

It will now be apparent that I have de- Patented July 12, 1921.A

lco

-vised a novel and useful construction which factory and reliableresults, it is to be iin-A derstood that I do not restrict myself to thedetails, as the same are susceptibleriof modication in: variousparticulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Patent claimsl. A lexible bushing comprising a plurality of alternatelyarranged corrugated continuous annular sheet springs and a cylindricalcontinuous annular sheet spring in direct contact with and separatingthe co-I- rugated springs, all concentrically arranged and with thecrests of the outermost corrugated annular sheet forming the outsidecontacting diameter 'and those of the innermost corrugated annular sheetforming the inside contacting diameter of said bushing.

2. A flexible bushing comprising two concentrically arranged flexiblecontinuous sheet tubular parts each corrugated in the direction otitelength, the corrugations of the two parts being substantially parallelso that the crests of the corrugations are in substantially radialplanes, and an interposed continuous tube o-f thin flexible sheet metalwhose inner and outer surfaces are respectively in contact at intervalscircumferentially with the inner and outer corrugated tubular parts saidplaces of contact of the two corrugated tubular parts being alternate ofeach other. o

4 In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

OSCAR RAGNAR WKANDER.

